BBC News recently ran an article suggesting that green gas produced from waste could heat about half of the homes in the UK according to a report from the National Grid. Not only that, but the renewable gas would reduce carbon emissions, increase the UK’s energy security, and help reduce the amount of landfills in the country. The report says that a £10 billion investment could increase the amount of gas coming from renewable sources from 1% to about 18%. Is this investment worth it?
About 47% of CO2 emissions in the UK come from heating, significantly more than electricity and transportation. In the US, a lot of emphasis has been placed on reducing CO2 emissions from cars due to our heavy dependence on them, but in a country with a significantly better mass transportation system, it would make sense for money to be spent on R&D in other areas. The green gas is produced from anaerobic digestion of waste. Anaerobic microorganisms are able to break down waste in the absence of oxygen, which produces a methane and CO2 rich biogas suitable for energy production. If this gas was allowed to escape to the atmosphere, it would be about 20 times more potent as a greenhouse gas then CO2 alone. It makes sense for this gas to be captured and put to good use. Anaerobic digestion facilities have recently been recognized as being less capital intensive than large power plants. Furthermore, the resulting gas can be transported through pre-existing pipelines to heat homes.
This process is not only up for further consideration in the UK, but also here in the US in Nebraska. As an agriculturally focused state, a great amount of by-product is produced from the livestock. Senator Ben Nelson is hoping to make the resulting biogas a commercial alternative to traditional natural gas with the help of the federal government. He’s hoping to create a tax-incentive that would encourage greater production of the biogas which would in turn create more jobs in rural communities.
In a world with a continuously growing population, concern needs to be extended not only towards diminishing fossil fuels but also the waste the population produces. By capturing the biogas emitted from landfills and using it to heat homes, these two concerns can be addressed. Although it requires a large investment of money, in the long run, fossil fuels will be saved and land will be recovered that can be put to other uses.
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Showing posts with label anaerobic digestion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label anaerobic digestion. Show all posts
Thursday, February 5, 2009
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